Sustainable Indicators : A case study of stakeholder perceptions and expectations on environmental sustainability reporting at Riksbyggen, a Swedish cooperative real estate company.

Abstract: Stakeholder demands on transparency and ethical behaviour have quickly increased and today the majority of large Swedish companies publish some form of sustainability report. The construction- and real estate sector has large environmental impacts, but despite producing 40% of Sweden‟s energy use, material and waste sustainability reporting is not well established in the sector. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most widely used framework for sustainability reporting. GRI includes demands for stakeholder inclusiveness and stakeholder‟s reasonable expectations have to be taken into account in reporting. Studies of sustainability reports however reveal that companies often fail to address major impacts on sustainability in their sustainability reports. This thesis aims to evaluate stakeholder‟s role in reporting of sustainability as well as the potential role of the report for stakeholders by identifying their perception and expectations on Riksbyggens upcoming sustainability report. The theoretical framework consists of stakeholder theory focusing on Freeman and the descriptive school, sustainability reporting focusing on GRI and indicators focusing on sustainability indicators. A case study was conducted at Riksbyggen, a Swedish building, property management and residential services company. 93 surveys were collected, providing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. Results show that stakeholders play an important role in reporting of actual sustainability as demands reaches beyond GRI requirements, evaluated reports and company boundaries. The study however revealed a clear distinction between stakeholder groups‟ demands for information. Handling the diverging demands is in this case the most central challenge in the creation of an apt sustainability report.